Chapter
Eighteen

Reflection

Shampoo stared at the clock. The
minute hand seemed to linger longer than ever as the puny second hand made
its regular spin around the plane.

The faint sound of a lecture entered
one ear and out of another. Shampoo’s mind wandered as she reflected on the
last few month’s events.

Like, how the heck did she end
up in this state? A few months ago, she had the comforts of a college sorority
sister. A warm house. A cushy bed. A gaggle of girls who were as high maintenance
as her and actually knew what foundation was. Heck, what a leg razor was.

Now, she was a refugee at the lesbian
sorority shack, which smelled mostly of pizza and beer. And leaky pipes. And
used tampons. If only these womyn warriors were as passionate about hygiene
as they were about Judith Halberstam.

And Shampoo felt trapped there.
She lost most of her “friends” when she lost her sorority. She also did not
want to leave

And above all, she was lacking
sleep. An aspect called dyke drama.

Y’see, Alex was now dating a girl
named Victoria who was Megan’s ex and now those two former friends weren’t
talking to each other, except to yell about which one was the more “psycho
bitch.” Meanwhile, Kasey and Crystal hooked up after one too many trips with
Puff the Magic Dragon. And were feeling extremely awkward about the experience.
Worse, Kasey was now hooking up with Crystal’s best friend Sky, a spoken word
poet who spouted out poetry in the middle of the night after too many shots
of tequila. Melissa and Grace, the on-again/off-again sorority couple were
off-again now that Grace had discovered Jesus and Jose, a suave member of
the agape club, and their arguments about sexuality as a choice would be followed
by the sound of cracking pottery and Grace’s frustration that the landlord
would not let her out of her lease at “the house of heathens.”

And Jamie hid in her room, practicing
her debut at the Michigan Womyn’s Festival with her guitar long into the night,
singing songs about menstruation, the sacred feminine, and crap like that.
Out of tune, of course.

Shampoo did not wonder why she
would wear extra layers of foundation beneath her baggy eyes.

The minute and finally reached
its destination and the professor dismissed the class. Still blinking in disbelief,
Shampoo picked up her books and left the room. She didn’t even hear about
the homework assignment. She would find it in the syllabus anyways. Probably
more Judith Halberstam crap.

But Shampoo did not have time for
that right now. She would need to scurry over to the Queer Resource Center
where she was needed. The volunteers were planning the campus’ first Queer
Prom to counteract the homophobic Greek gala. She would enjoy the walk under
the bright shining sun.

A distraction of a different kind was waiting for her. Specifically, a long-legged,
doe-eyed distraction wearing a leather jacket and tight blue jeans, with a
blood red motorcycle between her legs.

“Hi,” Jane said.

Shampoo stumbled for words. “I’m
late for a meeting,” Shampoo said quickly. She could see Alex hiding in the
bushes, ready to pounce on her.

Wrong word. “I’ve gotta go,” Shampoo
said. But she couldn’t move. Her mind said go, but her body said no. It was
like being in front of Ukyou again.

“I wanted to know if you wanted
to partake in some non-alcoholic fun,” Jane said. “And I’m not going to throw
in tofu. I know you get enough of that and drama from the house.” She hesitated.
“I know this great sorbet place at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.
We could ride my motorbike there.”

“I could get into so much trouble
if I said yes,” Shampoo said. Namely, Alex trouble.

“And that’s what makes it so enticing,”
Jane said soothingly. “I know you like trouble. It’s all over the front page
of the newspaper.”

Shampoo’s mind was racing. Playing
hooky and going across the bay. What about the Queer Prom? What about Alex
and all of her threats? What about homework?

Fuck them. I can deal with them
later.

“Hop on,” Jane said. She tossed
Shampoo a helmet . The motorcycle hummed at her touch.

And that’s when Shampoo realized
that there were some perks about being a lesbian.

NOTES:

To tell you the honest truth, I
had writers block. But now, I know where Shampoo’s storyline is heading. Heck,
I know where most of the book is heading too.